Roxbury Race Series #276.4 Miles
Roxbury, CT

September 1, 2001

Merrick
Ends Dave's 2-year Win Streak

Dave Harvey
hadn't been beat at Roxbury for two years. True, he hadn't raced all that often, but
he certainly hadn't avoided the competition. He beat strong runners, Chris Brigham,
Dave Dunleavy, Kevin Harrington, and everybody else who happened to show up
the weeks he decided to run. He even beat Ken Merrick once.

This week's race,
though, was one of the most exciting head-to-head-to-head confrontations we've had for
years. Five people were together at the mile. A quarter of a mile later, that
thinned to three, Dangerous Ken Merrick, the Old Fossil Ed Sandifer, and Dave Harvey.
From there to the six mile mark, it was just back and forth. A couple of
times, it looked like Dangerous Ken was going to get away off the front. Other
times, it looked like he was going to drop off the back. Other times, it was Dave or
Fossil Ed looking good or bad. All the way up the long hill, it was Dave and Ed,
shoulder to shoulder, with Ken looking like a rag about five yards back.

They turned the last corner together with half a mile to go.
With about a quarter of a mile left, Dangerous Ken turned on the heat. Ken's
young legs prevailed. He began a kick, and Dave tried to go with him. He went
along for about 30 yards, but his legs, fragile from a series of hamstring and quadriceps
injuries, warned him to slow down. Ed threw his best kick of the season to
claim the consolation prize, seven seconds behind Ken and just two seconds ahead of
Dave.

Pam Quist won for the women for the second week in a row. This
was a rare week when she and Peg Molina both ran. So often we see only one or the
other. People who had never seen them together saw that, indeed, they aren't really
the same person. One looks more like Princess Diana, and the other rather like Glen
Close.

In other rivalries, Gaylordsville teacher
JT Schemm finally nabbed Keyless Bob Derringer. This week, he had a 30 second gap at
the two mile mark and held on to vanquish his rival by 23 seconds.